Gods of the Atmos
by StormRocker
Summary: In the early years of Atmos' existence, there were the Gods each ruling over their own Terra. All Atmos lived in peace until war broke between the Gods, now this war continues in the battle for the Atmos. *Warning - Adult themes in places.*
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone, it feels like years since I have written something and I have had this idea of my mind for a while now and have wanted to try writing it, so please let me know what you think. And also, please bear with me, I'm very rusty. **

**I do own the Storm Hawks (I wish!)**

Prologue

Many eons ago, after a great quake that separated the Atmos not much of the one thriving land was left, desperate to save their people, the gods of the Atmos proposed a plan to help the land recover ad grow in prosperity for generations.

After many years of success, downfall came upon the Atmos again as some of the people began to abandon their worship to the gods and pursue their own paths in darkness. The human hearts who were blackened by greed, lust and deceit became the omens and demons of the Atmos, when they had finally died the black souls would again return in human form to wreak havoc upon the atmos and it's people. Because of this the Gods became desperate to stop these demons to protect the people.

The gods, Lightening Strike, Harrier and Triton took it upon themselves to rid the Atmos of evil forever but also, to ensure the protection of the Atmos they created another two gods, Ace and Starling. Ace, the god of War, Violence, Bloodshed and Death and Starling, the Goddess of family, wisdom and cunning. With these two young gods by their side, it seemed perfect. Years went on and the gods were still worshipped, their sky nights ridding the Atmos of the evil ones and the two young god becoming stronger every day.

Every passing year, the dark ones became stronger and eventually it lead to the god having to incarnate themselves in human form to help lead on Atmos the war against the dark ones. In their human forms the god became ever stronger in their abilities and soon became Sky Nights; each leading their own team to victory and justice. All but one, Ace even though fully grown, he was still young for a god and not even the others knew how much power he had and being the god of war meant that he would be a danger on his own. To help protect the people and Ace from falling into evil, Strike made the young god join his team of humans known as the Storm Hawks.

Years went by and victory was coming into sight for the gods and Sky Knights, upon the final battle they were betrayed by the one they feared the most, Ace, for only a god can kill another god. Ace had struck up a deal with the omens and demons to help them win the war in exchange for power, in return the demons made Ace not only their over lord, but he then became the God of War, Vengeance, Destruction and Death, in return for killing the god Lightening Strike.

In the years that followed, Ace or now the Dark Ace had set up his domain on the Terra Cyclonia, still a god, he remained in his human form to carry out his deeds and pursuits by claiming the role as Talon Commander, Dark Ace was easily able to spread pain and destruction throughout the Atmos through his army and his Master and his cunning wife, godess Starling.

And hope was lost, until now...

**Yay or nay, please let me know, ideas are appreciated. **


	2. An Adventure Begins

I do not own the Storm Hawks, sorry for the delay on the update, been hectic with a new job and finishing college. Hope you enjoy.

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_Squadron log; we are making our way to Terra Amazonia on mission of the Sky Knight Council, recent reports from crystal miners have shown that an underground city has been discovered and the Council wants us to check it out, hopefully we may find evidence of a long lost civilisation or it may be something like the Forbidden city, who knows? As for Cyclonia, been very quiet as of yet, no battles no nothing. But, still we must still keep our guard up, we never know what they are planning._

As Piper finished that very sentence, her ears were met with an all to familiar knocking on the door. Piper sighted as she tossed he journal aside and stalked over to he bedroom door. Pressing the button, the door slide apart to reveal the one knocking on the other side and it just had to be the one who annoyed her the most; Finn.

Tossing her head back with a groan, Piper could not believe that he was interrupting her during her free time, the only time she ever got to herself. "What do you want Finn?" Piper said annoyed as she tilted her head back to meet Finns face. But all she could notice was how much Finn was panting.

Finn looked as if he had just ran for ten miles, gasping for breath he tried to steady himself, "Aerrow wants us all on the bridge, like, now!" he just looked at the confused Piper, she stared at him wondering why he had just rans to her room to say there's a meeting on the bridge, but it had to be important otherwise Finn would not be standing outside of her room.

Still annoyed, Piper took a deep breath and stepped out of her room and followed Finn to the bridge. Once there she found the rest of the Storm Hawks sat at the table looking over some maps. All eyes fell onto Piper as she made her way towards the table, all the boys looking slightly sheepish of themselves.

Aerrow was the first to speak up, "Sorry to have dragged you away from your free time Piper, but we need your help with this mission." Piper glanced at Aerrow and only smiled as she could not help how cute he looked when he was embarrassed.

"What do you need guys?" Aerrow passed her some photos of the ruins they were headed to. Piper looked over the pictures noting the strange markings, statues and writings. She noticed how they followed the ancient culture of early Atmos.

"These pictures tell me that where we are going, these ruins are over a thousand years old. By the looks of these writings and carvings, it seems like were going to an old temple, but who or what these statues are, I have no idea." The boys looked at her puzzled, they have never heard of anything like this in the Atmos, save for Stork.

By the looks on their faces, Piper could tell that they had lots of questions to ask, odly though it was Stork who piped up, "Um, so what kind of temple are we talking, sacrificial or worship? Because if it is sacrificial then I am staying on the ship whilst you all go face certain doom." All eyes then fell back to Piper, she took a closer look at the pictures.

"Mmmm, it's had to tell guys, I mean for once this is something that I don't know much about. But if you give me some time until we get to Amazonia, I could research some of the markings and stuff." Piper stated wearily, she was a bit out of her comfort zone when it came to things she was not very knowledgeable about.

Aerrow looked as serious as he could get when it came to Piper doing research, Aerrow turned his attention to the pilot of the Condor, "Stork how long until we reach Amazonia?"

"Umm, judging from where we are now, south east of the Terra, at full speed, I would say about four hours." Stork calculated, Aerrow looked back to the rest of his team contemplating how the boys could prepare whilst Piper did her research.

"Okay, Finn, Junko, Radarr you all are with me, we'll do some training and work on the skimmers." The boys groaned at the sound of the words training and work, ignoring the sounds of his team-mates, Aerrow addressed Piper, "Piper, so as much research as you can on this place or culture or whatever, I want to be fully prepared." Piper nodded with a determined look on her face as she set off to her room to do her work. The boys made their way to the hangar bay to work and train and Stork set course for Terra Amazonia.

_Four Hours Later..._

As always, Storks landing skills were careful and done with ease. The Storm Hawks mounted their skimmers and made their way into their air to the centre of the Terra. The air on Amazonia was warm as the sun began to set and scented with the smells of the forest, how Piper loved that smell, she would live with that smell her whole life if she could.

"So did you get anything Piper?" Piper was snapped out of her trance by the sounds of Finn, her head snapped around to see Finn awaiting her answer.

"Not a lot unfortunately guys, most knowledge of this culture has been lost, only the language still exists." Piper said in annoyance, one thing that irritated her was when she did not get the result that she wanted.

"Don't worry Piper, we'll be okay." The sound of Aerrows reassurance made her smile slightly, until another voice came into her ears.

"Yeah! And Piper, by the end of the day you be the smartest person on this whole place!" The sound was that of Junkos, although he was a wallop, he was the kindest person Piper ever knew. Those words of Aerrows and Junkos gave Piper the reassurance that she needed.

The sights of the caves came into view as the Storm Hawks lowered themselves to the ground, the cave or more or less a hole descending into the ground was deep and dark. "So do you think that the skimmers will get down there? I mean how deep does it go?" Finn stated and for once he had a point, a point which gave piper an idea.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a Solaris Crystal. "If we drop this down there then we will know how deep it goes." Aerrow smiled at Pipers ingenuity, whilst Finn rolled his eyes mumbling to himself.

Piper dismounted her skimmer and approached the cave entrance, "Get ready to count guys!" Piper held out her arm, crystal in hand over the cave entrance and released the crystal, _one, two, three..._ a whole minute passed before the sound of the crystal hitting what was presumed to be the ground and a blast of light shone up through the cave entrance.

The hawks shielded their eyes as the light dimmed town to brighten only the cave below, Piper gazed down into the cave spotting the crystal illuminating the cave and boy was it deep. Assured she returned to and mounted her skimmer, "It's deep, the skimmers will get down there if we lower ourselves carefully and slowly an-" Unfortunately, before Piper was able to finish her sentence the sound of revving engines and the sight of a dust cloud had filled the air and her lungs for that matter.

When the dust had cleared and Piper had stopped coughing she noticed that the boys had already made their way down to the cave, "Guys?!" Piper shouted down to them, she then proceeded to rev her engine until Aerrow shouted up to her, "Piper, stay up there, we may need you to get supplies if we need them!" Piper groaned at Aerrow command as she also hated being on supply duty and not making sure that the boys did not break anything.

Down in the cave, the boys were surrounded by statues of various figures, by the looks of it four males and one female, all with a certain pose and name. The Solaris Crystal shone brighter and it became clear to he boys that they were in the middle of a temple of worship. A flash of light shone I the corner of Aerrows eyes as Junko was taking pictures of the room, "Piper asked me to Aerrow." Aerrow nodded in understanding, Piper may need more pictures since she is not down here.

Aerrow started to walk around the room, noting the the statues all formed a circle, the first statue that Aerrow passed was a male who did not look human, he was stood proudly with a trident in hand, the second who was also male stood holding scrolls in one hand and pointing to the sky with the other, the third of the statues, male again stood clad I armour with a sword pointed to the sky.

Finally, the last two were slightly smaller than the other three, there stood a male and a female together, hand in hand, the woman looking clam whilst holding shield, the male was the opposite, he stood with a look of anger holding a sword outward at what Aerrow had guessed would be an enemy.

At the centre of the circle was what looked to be a tomb of some kind, cautiously approaching the he notice many scribbles, engravements on the sides of the tomb. "Hey guys! Check this out!" Aerrow called to his team mate, who made their way over to the tomb. Finn and Junko gazed at the tomb in confusion, why was this here in a temple of worship?

"So, what do we do now, we've been, we saw and we have pictures?" Finn questioned Aerrow. Aerrow said nothing as he looked at the inscriptions on top of the tomb, he could not make out what they said and nodded towards Junko to take pictures for Piper.

"Guys, it's nearly dark, we need to get back to the Condor!" Piper shouted down to the boys, Junko looked as terrified as a child, he hated the dark as did Finn. "Can we get out of here now?" Junko pleaded to Aerrow in a child like manner, which Aerrow smiled at.

Aerrow nodded to his team and the made their way towards their skimmers when an unusual banging came from nowhere, the boys looked around, Aerrow ignited his blades, Finn readied his crossbow whilst Junko shook with fear. The banging continued, the boys at the ready for an attack, the boys followed the banging noise as it led them back to the centre of the room, to the tomb.

Aerrow and Finn looked at each other confused, the banging was coming from inside the tomb? "Should we open it dude?" Finn questioned the unsure Sky Knight. Aerrow looked down at the tomb as the banging continued, something was desperate to get out.

Aerrow looked back at Finn and nodded his head, the boys rested their hands of the top of the tomb ready to open it and release the creature trapped within. The boys looked at each other, Aerrow still with his blades I hand, "Ready?" he asked Finn, to which Finn nodded.

In one big push, they managed to slide the top of the tomb off and a black and red gust of shadowy air made its way violently up from the tomb and up out of the cave into the night sky. The boys looked at each other, "Dude?! What was that?!" Finn yelled in fear.

"I don't know, but lets get out of here before it comes back!" Aerrow practically shouted as the boys made their way to their skimmers and back to the safety of the Condor.

_Meanwhile on Cyclonia..._

Sweat cover bodies pressed against each other, a constant struggle for release as two lovers found themselves in an all too familiar moment. He pressed his body against hers, relishing in the warmth and softness of her skin, he kissed her and she responded in a way so primal that if her hands were free she would hold him until the sun rose upon the Terra or at the least shone through the clouds.

"Happy anniversary baby." Dark Ace whispered into his lover, his reason for being, his wife's ear. A sharp breath entered her lungs as she quivered at the sound of his voice and the feel of his touch, how she wanted to respond but, alas could not all she cold do was feel and listen, no touch and no sight.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you could spice things up. Starling breathed as he thrusted into her again making her moan in pleasure."Blindfolds and handcuffs." A low chuckle escaped her husband as he kissed her neck ever so tenderly. The moans began to escape her more frequently as he quickened his pace, every sense in her body was heightened as the pressure kept building screaming for release.

"Not yet baby, not yet." He growled as he tried to hang on tying to make this moment, this feeling last just a little longer. Finally, a loud yell of release escaped the two lovers, as Dark Ace released his wife's bound hands and removed the blindfold, he tried to find his breath as did his wife's. Pulling out of his wife, he collapsed and huddled beside her, holding her close as if nothing would be able to take her away from him.

"That was amazing." He breathed shifting himself to be able to look down on his wife "But, not as amazing as those beautiful emeralds that I can't see at the moment." Starling smiled and opened her eyes to meet his gaze, "There they are, so beautiful and perfect." he said as he tenderly stoked her cheek.

Starling began to lean up for a kiss, but stopped frozen her face locked in a glare that Dark Ace could not understand. "Starling?" He was starting to worry, it's been too long since she has done this, way too long she only does this when she senses something. Acting on instinct and worry, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly "Baby what's wrong?", he said exasperated, Starling luckily came out of her gaze and looked at her husband.

"Ace, look out the window and tell me what you see." She stated sternly at the confused Dark Ace. Dark Ace sat up and looked out of his bedroom window. He could only gaze in the same shock that Starling was wearing, a wave of fear swept over him as he watched a blood red comet soar make its way across the sky.

Dark Ace turned to his wife in fear, "The blood comet." He breathed as he looked to his wife for an answer, hoping that the one she would give would ease his fear. But he only wishfully thinking, he knew what this comet meant and judging by the look on his wife's face so did she. "Starling, does it mean?" He pleaded.

Starling could only let out a sad sigh to her husband, "Yes Ace, it does." The gazed at each other, their worst nightmare was coming true and now it involves all the allies that they could get, other Sky Knights, the Storm Hawks and now even their own son.

An new wave of emotion swept over Starling, one which she felt rarely; anger.

"She's back."

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Yay or nay, please let me know what you think.


	3. Conflicting Views

**oly Shit, nearly six moths since I started! My apologies guys, had a lot going on, lots of stress, happy days and disasters. But it's all good now.**

**I do not own the Storm Hawks. (Would be awesome if I did though)**

**o0o**

Twenty-four hours had passed since The Dark One's tomb had been opened, twenty-four hours since the most evil being in the Atmos was set free and now we had to face her all over again.

The moon held itself high that night, making it seem as if everything in the Atmos was fine, to the humans it was but to us, hell was on the verge of breaking loose. We were the Gods, the protectors of the natural order of the Atmos and we needed to act and fast, but how do we do that when we are all our own worst enemies.

The meeting place was a lone, desolate Terra in the vast stretches of the Atmos, a perfect meeting ground, a patch of dirt and dust in the sky. No life nor death, no distractions, a purely neutral ground.

As midnight drew to a close, I began to wonder if the other Gods would attend the meeting at all. But why should they, not only had I betrayed the Atmos but also them, my equals. If only they knew the truth. But Starling did, she knew and she understood.

"Don't look so discouraged when they arrive Ace." Her voice snapping me from , my thoughts, thoughts that only she could read, "They know what is going to happen and they know what we need to do to fight Hellina." I looked up into her eyes and held her gaze, an understatement to say that Starling was wise, she was the Goddess of Wisdom.

I held back the urge to laugh and lent against the body of my skimmer, "What they know needs to happen will vary greatly from what will happen Daring." How ironic, the God of war reciting words of wisdom.

Starling's shoulders dropped, just as words began to escape her lips the low hum of engines filled our ears. The sound grew louder by the second, the dust of the Terra began

to stir as the view of the fellow Gods came into view. The two skimmers came lower to the Terra, the Aquanos and the Rex Guardian; the last remaining Gods of the Atmos.

Both skimmers landed with ease and came to a smooth halt. The two riders dismounted as made a slow walk to their fellow Gods. Triton looked uncomfortable with the arrangement, although neutral ground, he hated the fact the Terra had no life to it, unfitting for the God Life. Harrier however had a face of disgust, he hated me with a passion and now he had to face the potential of having to work alongside me.

Starling and I stood side by side as Triton and Harrier halted before us, neither of us exchanged words for minutes. Someone had to break the tension soon or this whole meeting would be pointless, and who better that to do it than the Goddess of Wisdom herself.

"Thank you for coming out gentleman," All eyes averted to Starling, she sucked in a deep breath, this was not going to be easy, I knew her and she was not a big speaker, "As I'm sure that you are aware, Helena's tomb has been broken and she is now free. We all know what what will happen if we do not act so-"

"No disrespect to you both, but how do you expect us to trust you both with your traitorous histories?" Harrier cut in, typical, the God of politics playing devils advocate.

"Why do people always say 'No disrespect' when they are about do offend you?" I

questioned mockingly. I too hated Harrier, for some reason in the Atmos war and politics never seem to work hand in hand. Harrier and I both knew this all too well.

"And you would know all about disrespect God of War, is that you being tactical? Or is that just you being disrespectful?" I laughed at Harriers wit. Oh good old sarcasm; the lowest form of wit but the highest form of intelligence. How fitting for the God of politics.

Triton could see where his was going, he had that look in his eyes, both war and politics were naturally proud and stubborn, he had to intervene before all hope was lost before it had been found.

"Perhaps it would be best if we focused on the matter at hand. As we know, Hellina is at her weakest without her powers, her body and her demons." Eyes locked onto Trition, things were looking up. "Or well now, Dark Aces demons."

Harrier glared at me. I needed to say something, as much as I hated to admit it, I needed their help. "Hellinas demons swore their loyalty to me for all eternity, they made an eternal and unbreakable vow. If they turn away from me or disobey me they will incinerate on the spot, so you have no worries there."

Harrier looked unimpressed, he did not trust me or Starling. I mean how could he; I

betrayed their leader Lightening Strike, threw the Atmos into disarray all for my own pursuits. Starling chose her love for Me over her duty to the Atmos both as a Sky Knight and a God, joining the Cyclonians. How could he trust us? He just couldn't, no one naturally could.

"Be grateful Harrier. If it was not for my own pursuits, then Atmos cease to exist." I said bluntly. It's true though, someone had to take control of the demons and they trusted no one, except, those with power.

"Your own pursuits?!" There was a long pause from Harrier, the look in his eyes, he was questioning me. Finally the silence broke, but it was not Harrier who broke it.

"Men, if we carry on like this, we will get nowhere fast. Hellina is going to get stronger by the hour and only we can stop her." Wise words fell on a set of deaf ears, unfortunately I could not bit my tongue when insulted.

"Perhaps Harrier, if you were more decisive and less of a diplomat, then perhaps I would not have nearly crushed your Terra!"

"How dare you! Decisive? Try manipulative, evil lying bast-"

"Boys!" Starling's voices ripped through my ears and my heart, I hated making her mad like this. "If you don't get over yourselves fast, Hellina will crush us before we have a chance to stand against her!"

I sucked in a sharp breath, I needed to swallow my pride, my anger. But how can I when the one thing I hate is standing right in front of me. Time for a change in tactic, "Fine Starling," Control Ace, control "So where do we begin? Hellina is going to look for a body so that she can start to rebuild her powers. Once she finds one, she will be impossible to trace, so any ideas on how to find her?"

"We wont find her on our own," Triton's voice broke the silence "We need more power, we need to find the descendants of our fellow gods, the ones that incarnated themselves many years before we existed. Diana the huntress, her grandson will have her natural hunting abilities. Hecate's granddaughters will no doubt have her crystal magic. And Vulcan and Mercury, the traveller and blacksmith. We need all the help we can get.

Fortunately, though we wont have to look far."

This knowledge made me hopeful and I'm guessing that by the looks on the other faces so were they.

"Well, who are they?" Starling asked.

Triton sighed, "Master Cyclonis and the Storm Hawks."

Fuck. Fuck, no shit, fuck no!

"That cannot be right Triton, the Storm Hawks and Master Cyclonis? They are the

descendants?" I cant belive it, I wont believe it. I refuse to work with the Storm Hawks and allow Master Cyclonis to know the true power she has.

"Like it or not Ace, he speaks the truth. I know your worry Ace and I can understand, especially with Cyclonis." Starling said, she locked her eyes on me, reassuring me. A small smile made its way onto her face as she slowy turned to face Triton again.

"I can read you Trition, you know something else." She said cautiously, Triton knew how to hide the truth well.

"There is another god, not a demi god like Cyclonis or the Storm Hawks, one born of two gods. This one is not yet realised what so ever. We must find him before Hellina corrupts them." Triton said carefully.

So there's another god, one born of two. "What do you mean not yet realised?" Harrier asked confused. Triton locked his eyes on me and Starling with worry.

"He still only a child, but a child who will have to become a god very soon. He is still human. Not yet being a realised god means that he is still venerable to Hellinas corruption. Unlike the Storm Hawks and Master Cyclonis, they are Demi Gods, more human. This boy only has a few more days until his god blood kicks in. We must find him before Hellina."

This is just becoming too much to take in.

**o0o**

**What do you think, please R&amp;R**


	4. Inner thoughts

**Hello readers, wow! **

**A over a year since I updated this fic. Sorry people I hate leaving fics like this, but lots of stuff has happened in the past year so please be aware this fic may not be well written or may just be crap in general.**

**Thanks, **

**StormRocker**

**I do not own Storm Hawks **

She gazed at the sunrise aboard the balcony of the condor, arms held close to her body to keep in the little warmth she had, despite the jacket that covered her, the morning air of Atmos was not kind to those who would stand out in it too long unprotected.

Besides her room, it was one place that Piper liked to be in her times of worry, somehow looking at the sunrise made everything seem normal when it was not; as if the sun brought a new and brighter meaning to the darker points in life. But despite this, Piper could not shake the feeling of some impending danger, not like the kind she would get with Master Cylonis, no. This was something new, more powerful, more dark.

But what? What could it be?

For the past two days piper did nothing but research the temple that they had found. Nothing. No knowledge, no records not even a spec on a map. And that shadow. That red

and black shimmering shadow, sinisterly beautiful she though.

A sudden chill brought piper back to the world around her. The sun was no longer rising over the horizon, it sat lowly in the sky. But now, even the sun could not do anything to shake her distress. Nothing could. Not the boys, not even Aerrow.

Aerrow.

Her best friend since they met when they were four. She cant remember how they had met exactly but she knew it was the best day of her life. She made a friend who she now considers more than a friend, her family. Something that someone had ripped away from her as a child. She had no memories of this family, not faces to smile at, no events to recollect as did all the Storm Hawks. Her family bond was the Storm Hawks, she never felt ass strong a bond to anyone else.

Anyone else but...Master Cyclonis.

"Hey Piper! Get in here, Finns making breakfast!" Stork called to her. She smiled for once that morning and followed Stork to the kitchen prepared for Finns cooking, which surprisingly he was good at.

Despite that luxuries of being the Empress of Cyclonia, Cyclonis could only feel as her room was, lonely. Her private chambers was the envy of many noble Cyclonians. Everything was of the finest quality, artwork, cabinets, sheets even her carpets and rigs made many Cyclonians envy her. But despite this, despite all her luxuries Cyclonis could not help but fell lonely in her world, she felt like her room large with thing to be adored but no one to adore them with.

She sat there, in the middle of her overly large bed. Another sleepless night, is she was not overworked, it was that she was restless and if she was not restless then it was her nightmares. Truly lonely, she had no one to confide in, no one she truly trusted to share the depths of her turmoil's to. No family, mother was dead, father was unknown and grandmother was distant from her birth, lonely from the start. Her grandmother sheltered her from life and people, trained her not to be just a ruler but a weapon.

Perhaps_ that is why I am the way I am._ The young ruler thought. Truth was she did not really know ow to make friends or interact with people without threatening them.

_Piper was right, I just want a friend._ She admitted to herself for the first time. Yes at first she did disguise herself to get Piper to join her, but when the Storm Hawk refused, Cyclonis could not take the rejection. And there was that small bond, was it friendship? Why could she just not be normal and do normal thing. Truly no one understands, not even Dark Ace.

Despite being her right hand, he was older and had his own life. His own life, a happy marriage to a fellow respected warrior and a child. Why could she not have that life? Why could she not be loved by anyone? Why did she have to be feared all the time? Why did...

_No! Don't think like that! Friends are for fools, as grandmother said relationships make you show emotion, people see emotion, enemies see emotion, enemies use emotion to destroy you and everything you have, emotion is weakness, relationships are dangerous for people like us. Friends with be our undoing!_

As her grandmothers harsh beliefs reset themselves inside of her, Cyclonis could not help but wonder what had made her grandmother so. As those beliefs conflicted with her true self, in the privacy of her private chambers she let her tears fall once again, tears that no one would see, tear that in a few hours will cease to exits. In a few hours she will return to being the Master Cylonis that everyone sees, the false one who really wishes she could just be her own being.

I knew when something was not right with my husband, when he was troubled he retreated to his office. Compared to many of the rooms inside our large home, his office was the dwarfed in size. Small, tidy and orderly; perfect for Ace to plan and focus. No distractions and very private.

When he was in there, he kept the door shut. It was truly the most private place in our home and even after all of these years of marriage and living together, I have never ventured in there. I knew that when Ace was in there, he wanted to be alone.

And yet here I stand outside his door. I don't know how long I have stood here but I know that Ace has been in there all night silently contemplating our next move. Do or do I not knock? We are in this together and we need to plan this together. I don't even bother knocking, I just open the door and walk straight in.

Before I even look at my husband, I take in the room around me; small in size but compact. His desk sits in the centre of the room, to the left of him is a large bookshelf filled to its capacity with not only books, but files and scrolls. To my right sits no furniture but just a wall completely covered by a map of the Atmos, I looked closer at the large map, covering the whole wall, corner to corner. Every Terra, every trade route, every boarder. Cyclonian territories shaded red with everything else coloured with grey for neutral or blue for free Atmos.

I avert my gaze back tot he desk and there he sits at his desk, his chin rested on a hand that is propped up by the elbow on the desk. His gaze is blank and he is deep in though as he stares into nothing. He does not notice me as I walk around the desk to stand next to him. He has not even flinched.

I gingerly put reach to place my hand on his shoulder. Before I can make contact his hand reaches up to grasp my wrist faster than I can blink. A small gasp escapes me, his hand sits there on my wrist holding me still, he still had not moved any other part of his body. We stay life this for a few moments before his grasp of my wrist loosens, he does not let go, but moves his hand to take my wrist gently and pull it towards him. His gaze still fixed into nothing. His thumb brushes over my wedding ring, a simple band he chose, a silver band adorned with rubies and diamonds. Large rubies fill the centre of the ring and smaller diamond sit around them almost framing the rubies.

He breaks his blank gaze to look at the ring, I see the corners of his lips form a smile. He still does not look at me his eyes fixated on my ring. "You know why I chose this ring?" He say softly, he slowly brings his gaze up to meet me.

"Let me guess, the rubies make me think of when I look into your eyes or something cheesy like that?" Don't get me wrong I love my ring, its the only piece of jewellery I refuse to take of.

He laughs quietly, "No." He says in a whisper "In old Cyclonia, red symbolizes passion and white and silver purity." I think I can see where this is going. "The rubies are my passion and love for you while the diamonds are due to the fact that you have the kindest soul I know." I almost tear up at that confession, he always shocks me with this kind of romance "Plus you also made me wait until we got married to take your virginity." he says as if it was a joke. I scowl at him for that crack, "I'm glad I did wait for you though, they do say that great things come to those who wait."

I sigh contently, but I am brought back to my original intention of finding out what is troubling him. "Whets troubling you?" I ask him gently, he's not one to give information easily.

His smile fades, "Everything that was said last night. Triton is right; I have to put my pride away and work with the other gods to stop Hellina." This shocks me, usually he puts up a more of a battle when it comes to swallowing his pride.

"I know that in order to stop her, I will have to team up with the Storm Hawks. This undiscovered god," he says as if that's it, but I know its not just by the look in his eyes. "That's not just it Ace, I know you and there is more."

His head sinks and his shoulders sag. "Its Cyclonis, she is one of the demi gods. What are we going to do if..." he looks up, worry in his eyes "when she figures out her power. And how am I going to break it do her that Piper is her sister?"

**I apologise if this chapter was not that good, its been so long since I have written. I'm also sorry if the characters are out of character, but I need to set them up for what I have planned. Any tips would be appreciated. **

**I will try to update soon but cannot guarantee, but I will try to work around my life**

**If you want to see a picture of this Starlings wedding ring, click the link below**

h** . **

**Thanks for reading,**

**StormRocker**


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